mn90403

Rob,

Actually I didn't know much about the area.  As far as I remember, that is the first nugget I've ever found at LSD or SD or Stanton for that matter.  It was my first time to drive up that far.  You guys have not shared your secrets with me.  haha

My best find until that nugget was a pocket watch case (without the watch) that was found more north and east of Jackass Flats than this area.  

Mitchel

Adam,

The next time you go prospecting or fishing just stay at home.

https://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/story/6495003/mining-company-explores-tuena-for-large-gold-deposits/

When will you get a chance to use that?  Is it too hot there now?

Did he leave any gold in the patches?

Fred may need some sleeping 'help' to make the trip!  That bush requires a lot of planning and equipment.

Did Paul leave anything behind?  haha

Fred,

The exchange rate is still good.  Victoria has lots of inexpensive places to stay but you might want to be in Norvic or JP areas but I know you like WA but it is a long way to a hotel there.

Mitchel

I didn't know if I was going to find any gold but I knew I could bring back some pictures.  haha

Let me start of by saying I heard about and saw some pictures of hugh silver and gold found in Arizona.  If I find a link or the discoverer wants to post up his pictures I'll let you know.  This find is not about that.  This find is about a couple of good weather days in Arizona near Wickenburg if you follow on the map.  I went there because of Bill Southern's outing that was very well attended.  He'll have some pictures on his forum which I'll try to link here. 

https://nuggetshooter.ipbhost.com/topic/34683-outing-pictures/

Minelab America was there giving away something to everyone who attended and they also had a raffle which benefited AMRA to the tune of $2700!  This was near the second day and where the nuggets were found.

This first picture is a panorama of the area where I went the first morning.  It is near a GPAA claim was a nice specimen was found last month.

As you can see the desert is not really dead.  It has many living plants and animals.  The fallen cactus is a saguaro.  You normally only see it standing with its green skin but inside it is an engineering masterpiece.  It is made of many rods that give it strength.

The next set of pictures is of the cactus that makes cowboys strong and forget about pain.  These are the jumping cactus that get you over and over again.

I finally dug a hole but it was hot ground.

If you enlarge these pictures you will see in the picture some wild burros.  There were about 10 with a couple of black ones.

The next day we stopped by an old mine on the way to a different claim.

Chet got us near and then we went off a less travelled road and we had to turn around.  This is him coming out.

I didn't take my phone detecting this time because it lost power trying to find a signal.  This was the claim where Chet found a nice 2 g nugget and I found the .25 g nugget.

These were my pictures on the way out at the end of the day and before my 6 hour drive back to Santa Monica.

I took a couple of bad picture of the nugget this morning with the phone.  It makes me want to get a better one ... nugget and phone that is!

Ok, I missed that for my memory with all of my driving!

I've been invited to places in Mexico that have probably not seen the power of the Zed but I've not made the time and I have 'issues' about safety and not knowing the language.  I'd be at the mercy of fines, payola and forfeiture of equipment from the beginning to the end.  Others don't seem to have this problem.

I should also add ... will it beat an X/Q also?  😁

Ok, I just came back from an outing of Bill Southern's.  Minelab America happened to be there.  I had a good time and I took some pictures and found one little nugget which I'll post in a different thread.  I also learned some things which are pertinent for this thread.

Chet was there with his Xcoil and just as JW says, he has on an Xcoil and he doesn't take it off.  It causes him to be thorough and find missed nuggets and others because he believes it will do it.  Today he found a very pretty 2 gram nugget that many detectorists including Doc with his 7000 missed and it was only 5 inches deep.  I also missed it because I wanted to go farther up the wash to the less hunted areas.  Chet will just be methodical where everyone else has been.  So, the coil works if you work it.

More stuff I learned is that there is no Minelab small coil for the 7000.  They believe most users want the big coils and that's the market they want to keep for that machine.  I wish they would let someone develop the small coils for them but I didn't try to delve into that.  Perhaps they are satisfied with selling a Monster or Equinox to someone who wants small gold.  I'm done with the subject.

Something else I learned is that Minelab is a company that makes metal detectors.  They develop new metal detectors on a regular basis as a result of that.  Check with people you know who test and see what they are doing.  This might be a secondary reason for no new coils for the 7000.  They are busy with other projects.

It sounds like the Xcoil is the best game in town to light up the old patches and if you have the time get it and you might not want to get the next generation when it is available.

Does the Xcoil miss any nuggets?  haha 

What can the next generation do to find gold?  Deeper?  Discrimination?  Smaller (do we really need that?) Species?  ???  Lighter?  Cheaper?  Make Steve's PI Challenge?  Will it beat an X/Z?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Mitchel

Here where i live i have lots of open ground that never have been metal detected & most of these hills are gold bearing...just have to look for shallow gold deposits. Most creeks been rich in gold as also the rivers.  . 

Last photo is of us dredging with our Trev's Style Dredge. ..

Where do you live?

Gold gets stolen and stories get told.  Here is the first part of a series on the 20 greatest gold heists.  They are an interesting read.  I'm sure there are others out there you've heard of also.

https://coinweek.com/bullion-report/the-biggest-gold-heists-of-all-time-part-i/

Nice hole Norm!  Was it near home or are you already down south?

Mitchel

Steve, did you post the ring test some other place?

This will make for an entry in the next book.  I have the first two!

Mitchel

I paid good money to get those setting (and a lot more) and now he's giving it away!

I wouldn't have missed it.  I've had better days in Rye Patch since the training than before the training.  I think I've already paid for it with my finds over the last couple of trips.

Mitchel

Well, I'm sure I need to do like Chet has done with the Xcoil charts.  I need to take a few nuggets and bury them and see how deep I can hear them.  In the many training sessions I've had with folks we have never done this.  It seems obvious I should have spent more time on this on my own so that I know what different settings are capable of 'hearing' a faint signal.  It hasn't come 'naturally.'

It is the tuning of the ear that makes the difference.  You guys KNOW what you hear and some of us don't hear it or we don't even know what it is!  That is the art to go with the science.  IMHO

Mitchel

Thread hijack ... you just hear those nuggets bouncing around in that metal pan.

I hope it gets removed from the thread so we don't click on that more.

Mitchel

Lunk uses Locate Patch too.  Why isn't there a setting that says 'Work Patch?'  haha

Well done Lunk.  Keep them coming this winter.

Gerry will be watching!  haha

So will the rest of us.

Mitchel

Ok, I have an additional thought on how to describe some different words to get all I can out of different patches.  The word that came to mind tonight is thorough:

I think you have done enough testing on those pieces.  It is very unlikely that it is a meteorite.  The flecks and chondrules that Fred was referring to do not appear.

Mitchel

Ok, the look is 'good' with the bit of reddishness but you mentioned something that probably just makes it a hot rock.  You said it 'stick like glue' to the magnet.  Meteorites that we find other than the irons in Franconia typically have about half the pull of 'stick like glue.'  The other thing you mentioned is Pahrump and probably on the GSSN claims.  That is not really known for any meteorites.  I could be wrong an you could look at metbull and see a map of known meteorites but Gold Basin and Franconia are the best bets to target unless you go to dry lake beds.  

That is a different subject but now that you are in Vegas I'm sure you'll be able to get in on some hunts where gold is not the primary target and meteorites are.  I'll let you know when I hear about one of those hunts.

We might be visited by Dolan Dave on the forum here and he would be a great one to hunt with.

Mitchel